Family in anything but blood
by Helentje
Summary: Naruko was born 10 years earlier and got placed in a team with Itachi and Kiba. After the Uchiha massacre Naruko decided to take the 5 year old Sasuke in and raise him the best she can. Sasuke sees Naruko as his only family left and will do anything to protect her. The feelings between Itachi and Naruko are complicated. Fem!Naru ItaNaru younger!Sasuke older!Naruto
1. Chapter 1: How it started

**A/N:  
The story will begin after this AN, it's just a short explanation to all the changes I made for this AU.  
So first a little time-line:  
Naruko's birth and the Kyubi attack happened 10 years earlier. Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to not reveal that Naruko's the jinchuriki because he knows that's a STUPID idea. Naruko does know about the Kyubi herself.  
Itachi Naruko and Kiba are the same age and in the same class when they enter the academy. Itachi is still as skilled as in the canon but he doesn't graduate earlier.  
When Itachi is 10 years old Sasuke is born.  
Itachi, Naruko and Kiba graduate at 12 years old and become a team. Their sensei is Kakashi who later also becomes Sasuke's sensei because he has the sharingan.  
At age 15 Itachi kills the Uchiha clan but spares Sasuke. Naruko decides to take care of Sasuke.**

Beware of some OCCnes in this story.  
This is an ItaNaru fanfic!

Let's begin!

* * *

Naruko looked at the small raven in the hospital bed and softly stroked his hair. From this day on he would be the last Uchiha in Konoha. He hasn't even started to go to the academy yet and he already knows the pain of losing the ones you care about. He's already seen more death than most genin.

"Itachi… what were you thinking?" 

_Naruko was walking back from Ichiraku when she noticed the change of atmosphere. She drew a kunai and stood her ground, but she couldn't sense anyone nearby. Then why did she feel so alarmed?_

 _ **"Something is seriously wrong kit."**_ _Sounded Karuma's voice._

 _"Yeah no kidding." Naruko scoffed. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She needs to concentrate. She could feel Karuma's chakra flowing through her body as she took in her surroundings. She could feel the chakra of the people inside their homes in the street. Nothing seemed wrong yet. Was she mistaken? It has been a long day._  
 _She was about to quit and go home when she felt something. Or rather, what she didn't feel._  
 _The Uchiha compound would always be bustling with energy, so many trained shinobi in the same area would be filled with chakra. But right now Naruko only felt a faint amount of it. And she could feel it becoming less and less._

 _Without any hesitation Naruko took off towards the Uchiha compound. As soon as she reached it she froze in her steps. Her eyes widened with the sight in front of her. After she overcame her shock she ran towards the nearest body and checked for any sign of life. Only to find none. She cursed under her breath as she raced towards the most familiar house. Naruko couldn't lose the closest thing she had to a family. She didn't hesitate to kick the front door open, half expecting to find Mikoto-sama there with little Sasuke and ensuring her that everything was alright. But she was only greated with an empty entrance. She checked as many rooms as she could until there was just one left, without any hesitation she opened the door to reveal a bloody sight._

 _"Mikoto-sama, Fugaku-sama..."_

 _She could feel the tears in her eyes but wiped them away as quick as possible. She couldn't just stand here. She had to find Itachi and Sasuke._

 _ **"Kit! I can feel the boys' chakra! But the little one's very weak. You have to hurry!"**_

 _"Lead the way Karuma!"_

It was not long until Naruko found an unconscious Sasuke. She had run to the boy and was relieved to find his heart still beating. But then she looked at the only other living person in the whole area.

 _"What is the meaning of this Itachi?!" Naruko all but screamed at her teammate in front of her._

 _"I just did what had to be done Naruko." Itachi replied coldly. But Naruko knew him long enough. She could tell there was something else going on. But she couldn't risk to look him in the eyes to see the truth. His sharingan was activated._

 _She tried to think of her next action. Sasuke was shivering in her arms and she had to get him to a safe place as soon as possible. But she couldn't risk letting Itachi get away. She had to try._  
 _She shifted Sasuke so her right arm was free and took a kunai from her pouch. But Itachi was quicker and before she knew it he was in front of her with a strong hold on her arm. She couldn't risk dropping Sasuke and closed her eyes to avoid looking at him. She could only rely on her senses right now._

 _"I'm so sorry Naruko, but there was no other way." She could feel a soft pressure on her lips. "Please take care of Sasuke. Make sure he'll be strong enough."_

 _As soon as she felt him let go she swung with her kunai only to hit nothing. She looked around only to see that Itachi had left. She was about to go look for Itachi but the shivering form of the boy in her arms stopped her. She had to trust the anbu to take care of this. As she ran towards the hospital Itachi was watching from the shadows._

Some loud shouting and barking brought Naruko back from her thoughts as the door slammed open.

"What the F**K is going on!" Kiba shouted. But before Kiba could wake Sasuke from his slumber Naruko kicked him back into the hallway and walked after him while closing the door.

"Could you calm down for a second?" Naruko hissed at Kiba. Only to have him shake his head. "No way! I heard about what happened and I immediately came here!" Kiba said as Akamaru let out a bark. But at the look Naruko gave him he took a few deep breaths and asked in a calmer voice, "Is Sasuke okay?"  
Naruko nodded, "He didn't get hurt too bad. I'm not sure if he would still be alright if I had been late. Or if Itachi had planned to spare him from the beginning."

"Wait. You were there!?" Kiba asked shocked. Naruko nodded once again. "More or less, I already found Mikoto-sama and Fugaku-sama dead. The only ones I found alive were Sasuke and Itachi."

Kiba rubbed his eyes. "What was Itachi thinking?!" Naruko just shrugged. "Do you know where he is now?" Kiba sighed, "They've found some dead anbu just outside the gates. I guess he got away. Did he mention anything to you?"

"He only asked for me to take care of Sasuke and that there was no other way. Then he apologized."

"Oh he apologized? Well that just makes _everything_ better! Let's welcome him back with a bouquet of flowers!" Kiba yelled sarcastically. "Now's not the time for you sarcasm Kiba." Naruko said.

"Right, right. I'm sorry." Kiba said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. But they got interrupted as they heard a scream from inside the room. Without any hesitation they burst into the room and ran to a crying and screaming Sasuke. "Sasuke!" Naruko yelled as she immediately took him in her arms. The boy was still panicking but didn't try to pull away. Akamaru sniffed around the room in case there was a trace of an intruder and Kiba decided to keep his distance for now.

"It's okay Sasuke. You're safe now." Naruko said softly as she rubbed the boys back who slowly melted in her embrace. "You're safe, I'm still here." She repeated softly. The cries became less and less but Sasuke was still sobbing. "I-Itachi… he, he-" But Naruko quickly silenced him. "I know Sasuke, I know. Try not to think about it right now." Sasuke held on to Naruko as if she was about to disappear. "Please don't leave me Naru." He said softly so only Naruko could hear. "I won't. I promise I won't." 

* * *

Naruko and Kiba stood inside the hokage's office. Sasuke refused to let Naruko out of his sight and insisted to come with them. It took thirty minutes until he agreed to let them inside the office without him. But only if Akamaru would stay with him.

After Naruko reported everything she knew to the hokage they had come to a new problem. Sasuke needed someone to take care of him.

Sarutobi sighed, "Naruko I can't let you take care of Sasuke. You are only 15 years old."

"So what!" Naruko yelled. "I'm old enough to have a child of my own so I can take care of Sasuke. Besides, I'm the closest thing he has to a family right now!"

"And what about your income?" Sarutobi asked. "You're a Jonin who will have to go on missions for money. You can't take him with you on those missions because that will be too dangerous for him."

"I can help with that!" Kiba insisted. "If Naru and I don't have a mission together He can stay with me. And if we both are away there's always my sister or mother who he is familiar with. Heck, he's even familiar with Kakashi-sensei!"

"He's lost his entire family because of his brother," Naruko joined in. "he needs to be with familiar people. It will be for the best."

Sarutobi sighed. "Are you sure about this Naruko?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to take on the responsibility of not only a parent at your age, but for his actions as well?"

"Yes! So please let me take care of him!"

"Very well. Sasuke will be permitted to stay in the hospital until all the paperwork for his placement in your care is finished. You will be given a home far from the Uchiha compound and any other necessaries to start with."

Naruko beamed at the words and bowed. "Thank you so much old man!"

"Great. Now go home, I have a lot more paperwork to do now."

* * *

 **A/N:  
So this was the first chapter. Please let me know if you liked it so far and if you have any suggestions for this story!**


	2. Chapter 2: New beginnings

**A/N:  
There's one thing I forgot to mention! In this AU Naruko's heritage wasn't kept a secret and she is known as the daughter of the 4** **th** **hokage. However because of this the people didn't recognize her for her own achievements, but for those of her father.**

* * *

"He doesn't remember." Naruko says softly as she stares down at her tea. It has been three days and tomorrow she and Sasuke will move into their new little home.

"Doesn't remember what?" Kiba asks while trying to find a way to hold his cup without burning his fingers.

"That we used to be on a team with Itachi." It was the first time in days since she said his name and, well, it startled Kiba and now his cup fell and the hot tea spilled over the table. "I got it." Naruko says and walks to one of the moving boxes to take out a dishcloth. "Sorry about that." Kiba mutters.

"But what do you mean? You often visited them right?" He asks as he takes the cloth from Naruko and cleans the mess.

"Well, yeah. But I even visited them before we were on the same team. Mikoto-sama kind of took care of me when I was little. She would help me with the groceries and chores. Sometimes she even cooked for me to make sure I didn't only eat ramen." Naruko explains with a soft smile. "And now that I think about it, it never really got mentioned that Itachi and I were on a team. It didn't really change anything."

"So are you going to tell him?" Kiba asks.

Naruko thought for a moment. "I think I'm going to wait for when the time comes. For now I think it's best to keep Itachi out of our lives as much as possible." She stood up and walked to a pile of packed boxes and took one of the smallest. "Which leaves me with this." She hands the box to Kiba who swaps the cloth in his hands for the box. As Naruko goes to the sink to clean the cloth he looks inside. "These are-"

"Everything related to Itachi being in our team." Naruko finishes.  
Inside the box where some simple things such as paperwork from their team, some pictures and even some kunai and scrolls Itachi had gifted Naruko. Basically everything that would reveal that Itachi had been on their team. Kiba took one of the pictures out for a closer look. It was taken right after that stupid bell test. Right after they all officially graduated and became genin. He chuckled at the sight of Naruko's bright orange jumper. She always wore that thing. Until they went on missions and she _finally_ realised it's not the best colour for stealth missions. He forgot how long her hair was back then. Right now she had it just above her shoulders but back then it was almost longer than Ino's. "Are you going to throw it away?" He asks.

"No I could never do that. As much as I hate what he has done and what path he has chosen. Those are all precious memories to me and he just happens to be a part of it." She sat back down and looked at Kiba. "I just don't want to risk Sasuke finding them."

Kiba smirked, "So in other words you want to shove your problems towards me. I'm so touched Naru-chan. And here I thought you'd never ever give me a present."

"Your sarcasm is the worst part of your personality." Naruko replies dryly. "And don't act like I never gave you a present!" She scolds.

* * *

"You ready Sasuke?" Naruko asks. She had just picked Sasuke up from the hospital after spending all day decorating their new home.

Sasuke gave a silent nod and took her hand. He wasn't as cheerful as before. But can you blame him? Naruko was just glad he still showed his emotions even if it was only towards her and, on a rare occasions, to Kiba. She could tell the boy was glad to finally leave the hospital, but nervous to live somewhere else without his parents. Naruko decided to distract him from the thought. "Yaknow there's a small playground close to our house, we can even see it from our kitchen window. And we even have a backyard! It has a big tree that will have cherry blossoms in the spring."

He just gave her hand a little squeeze, his own way to let her know he enjoyed this one way conversation. So Naruko just kept talking as she looked forward. "Even though our home is a little small we still have a decent bathroom, so you should enjoy being little now because you can almost swim in the bath!" She giggled and kept talking as Sasuke looked at her.  
Naruko has been in his life for as long as he can remember. He remembers his mother telling him that Naruko never got to know her own family and has always been alone. So they were her family and she was a part of theirs. Sasuke was glad Naruko was still here. She wasn't as composed as his parents but she was calm whenever she needed to. And otherwise she could be a bit… hyperactive, as his cousin Shisui once said. But it made her fun and she was a warm person. She was his only family left.

He watched as Naruko had a smile on her face as she began describing the living room. Sasuke was determined to make sure that smile will never fade. He'll make sure to protect her from all the terrible people in the world. Especially from Itachi.

"Here we are!" Naruko exclaimed happily, pulling Sasuke away from his thoughts.

Sasuke looked at the house they stopped at. It was probably only a quarter in size of his old house, but that was understandable, they were a family of two instead of four after all. "Want to look inside?" Naruko asked him. And once again, Sasuke just nodded. As Naruko unlocked the door he looked around to make sure they weren't followed. It was better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

Naruko had attempted to cook dinner for both of them. However, they ended up eating instant ramen for the night. Naruko wouldn't complain but she has had enough scolding from Mikoto-sama to know an instant ramen diet wasn't the best for a kid.  
As much as she hated to admit it, she would have to find someone to teach her how to cook. She can't set fire to their kitchen every day.

"Sasuke yaknow, you are old enough to enter the academy." Naruko started.

Sasuke looked up from his dinner. "I know. Tou-san was already training me." Sasuke answered.

"Well, the new classes start in a few weeks. The hokage asked me if we should enrol you this year."

"But Tou-san already registered me. I was already accepted." Sasuke said confused. Why would the hokage ask if he joined classes this year if he had already been accepted?

"Yeah you are. But it's completely understandable to wait a year. Especially after what just happened and the classes starting so soon." Naruko explained.

Sasuke was silent for a while. "I'm an Uchiha." He stated. "An Uchiha shouldn't be later than others, an Uchiha can only be ahead of the others." He said with determination.

Naruko stiffened for a moment, processing what he had just said.

 _"How are you so much better than the rest?!" Kiba shouted at Itachi. They had just began the tree climbing exercise and as usual Itachi had no problem with it or had already mastered it before time. Itachi stayed calm but eyed Kiba. "I'm an Uchiha. An Uchiha shouldn't be later than others, an Uchiha can only be ahead of the others." Kiba groaned in frustration._

 _"Honestly Naru-chan. I don't know how you've been able to handle these two for years." Kakashi said. Naruko looked at her sensei with cold eyes. "I haven't sensei."_

"Very well." Naruko said in a monotone voice as she stood up to clean the table. "If you want we can go shopping tomorrow for all the supplies we need or you can use my old ones."  
Sasuke noticed Naruko's attitude changed after his answer. Was it something about the Uchiha's? She was silent for a second there, like she was lost in thought.

"Sasuke?"

"I won't mind using yours." He answered.

"Are you sure? They are a bit worn and I used to write notes in my books." She said in a curious voice. Honestly she was surprised he wanted her old stuff. She remembered how Itachi would always say she should be more careful with her items.

Sasuke shrugged. "I won't mind. Besides, if I learn how to handle a worn kunai can you imagine how skilled I would be with a new one." He said smugly.

Naruko sighed. "Alright. If you say so."

* * *

"Sasuke it's been a week. You have your own room and really have to sleep there." Naruko said. It was the same every night. Sasuke would act calm and collected during the day, but as soon as it was time to go to sleep you would recognize him as the five year old he was. He refused to sleep in his own bed. Afraid that if he wasn't with Naruko she'd be gone the next morning. Either left him or murdered as well.

"NO." Sasuke said as he refused to let go of Naruko's legs. He wrapped his arms and legs around them and Naruko was unable to walk like this.

"Come on Sasuke we've been over this. I won't go anywhere." She tried, but Sasuke only squeezed her legs tighter. "How about this. If you sleep in your own bed, we'll have tomato soup tomorrow for dinner."  
Sasuke vigorously shook his head. He didn't care if she would get him tomato soup for the rest of the year. If he slept in another room how would he know she was safe? "I don't want to leave you." He whispered as the tears came from his eyes but refused to let Naruko see them.

Naruko sighed and raised Sasuke higher so he could wrap his arms around his neck. She supported his weight with her left arm as her right hand rubbed his back. She'll have to find another way to deal with this tomorrow, but for now she was to tired to even try anymore and walked toward her room with Sasuke in her arms.

* * *

The first weeks passed by and it was the first day at the academy for Sasuke. Naruko was a bit nervous about it and hoped everything would go well. These past few weeks were a bit unusual. Sasuke would finally sleep in his own room when Naruko proposed to keep both of their doors open so he would hear everything. However he suffered from night terrors and refused to admit he had them. But the couple off times he would go to Naruko's room to check if she was still there proved her right. She promised him she wouldn't tell anyone about it.

As they walked towards the academy she could feel the people staring at them and heard their whispers.

 _"It's the Uchiha boy."_

 _"Is that the Yondaime's daughter with the Uchiha boy?"_

 _"I heard his brother was the one to kill the entire clan."_

 _"Is that the girl taking care of him?"_

 _"It's the last Uchiha."_

 _"Naruko-sama is so young to take care of a child."_

 _"Do you think she took him in out of pity?"_

Sasuke's hand reached for Naruko's and held it tightly. Naruko could really hate the villagers for things like this. Couldn't they just leave them alone?

She was relieved when the academy finally came in sight and quickened their pace. She could see Iruka sensei outside talking with some of the other parents while some of the children were getting to know each other or running around.

"Hey Iruka sensei!" Naruko cheerfully shouted and waved. Iruka smiled and mentioned he would come over in a moment. Naruko noticed that Sasuke looking at the other children. "You can play with them if you want." Naruko suggested but Sasuke shook his head. "I'll stay with you." He said quietly.  
As Naruko looked around she saw a few girls standing together, looking and pointing at Sasuke. All with flushed faces.

"They are probably saying how I'm the last Uchiha." Sasuke said with disgust in his voice. Still remembering the whispers of the villagers.  
However Naruko just laughed and Sasuke looked at her. "That's not it Sasuke, almost all Uchiha's have a few girls in their life like that." Sasuke looked puzzled. "I had an Uchiha in my class," Naruko explained. "Almost every girl in our glass had a huge crush on him and acted like that around him to. They were his little fan club and would follow him around." Sasuke scrunched his nose in disgust. "I don't want anyone to follow me around."

Before Naruko could answer him Iruka walked towards them. "Hey Naruko. How have you been doing?" he asked.

"Can't really complain at the moment." She answered with a smile and then nudged Sasuke. "Sasuke, this is Iruka. He'll be your sensei at the academy. He was my sensei as well when I went here." She explained to him as Iruka looked at Sasuke. "It's nice to meet you Sasuke." Iruka said. Sasuke just nodded at him.

"That's probably all you'll get today." Naruko replied while rubbing her head. She then turned to Sasuke. "I have a short mission today with Kiba. I made sure to get one that'll only take a day so I will be a bit later to pick you up. But Iruka promised me to keep an eye on you. So behave okay?" Sasuke gave a hesitant nod. Naruko said that Iruka was a nice man and she trusted him. So if Naruko trusted him then Sasuke decided he could trust him.

"Thanks for helping out Iruka sensei." Naruko said.

"No problem Naruko. I'll see you later today."

"Yep!" Naruko exclaimed happily and ruffled Sasuke's hair. "See you later today Sasuke-kun. Be good alright?"

As she walked away towards to hokage's office for her mission Sasuke just kept staring at her back until she was out of sight.

"Why don't we head inside Sasuke? We are about to start the very first day of your time here at the academy." Iruka said as he walked ahead.

Sasuke looked once more down the road Naruko just left on. This would be his first day to become stronger and reach his goal.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So this was the second chapter! I hope you guys liked it, please let me know if you did. :) And thank you soooo much for the nice reviews of the last chapter! At the time of me writing this we've already reached more than 50 followers! :D *Throws confetti around***

 **Thanks for reading this so far! I have a lot of ideas for this story.**

 _ **Also, I don't have a schedule for updating. I write when I have the time and upload as soon as I finished a chapter. It could be to have multiple chapters in a week (like now) or we'll have to go for a few weeks without an update :(  
But I'll try my best for you guys!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Buttercups

**A/N:**  
 **I'm sorry but this will not only be a short chapter but also the only one I'll post for a while . My school's deadline has been moved an entire month EARLIER and I'm FREAKING OUT! So please excuse me for this short update…**

* * *

 **Lots of feelings in this chapter, you've been warned.**

An 8 year old Sasuke sighed deeply. He had finally, _finally_ , managed to shake those fan girls off and now he could walk home without being followed by any them. The moment he noticed that those girls had started following him around at the academy he started to take all kinds of different routes home. He'd run as fast as he could and took every detour he could find, he'd go through alleyways, over the roofs and go aimlessly left and right. And as soon as he'd notice he wasn't being fallowed anymore he'd head straight home without any problems. The last thing Sasuke wanted was for those girls to know where he lived.

In fact he was surprised no one knew where he lived. It wasn't that unnoticeable to see the 'last Uchiha' walk into a house with orange painted windows. _Orange,_ of all colours why that one?  
However Sasuke does have a secret fondness to that colour. Every time he saw the familiar colour he'd get a warm feeling. Like the hugs Naruko would give him whenever she'd leave for a mission or when she saw he had a bad day. She was the only person who could provide such a simple thing for Sasuke. And he would be sure to make it last as long as he could.

Sasuke walked towards the front door of their house and opened it, but before he could walk inside he felt a familiar feeling. And it was not a welcomed one. It was a cold and dark feeling, as if he was being watched.

As if he was being watched by _him_.

He looked around the street but couldn't see anyone. When he looked to his side he saw a crow sitting on top of the potted flowers Naruko put next to their door.

'Tsk.' how could he be so anxious because of a stupid crow? He made the crow fly away and stepped inside.

"I'm home!" He called when he entered and took his shoes off. He could hear a Naruko shouting something like 'Welcome back' from upstairs.

* * *

It has been her first day off since weeks. If she wasn't on a mission she'd be doing errands or would be training. But today she decided to rest herself a bit. However, if you know Naruko well enough you would know she just can't rest for more than 5 minutes if she isn't injured. So eventually she started to turn this day into a cleaning day. After making a few shadow clones and dividing the chores she started with cleaning her own bedroom. But it was when she was cleaning out a drawer she found one of her most cherished possessions.

It was a simple dried flower, a buttercup in fact. She truly loved this little keepsake. And she hated that she loved it.

 _Little 9 year old Naruko was sitting near the riverbank plucking the grass around her. She didn't stress about going home. Nobody was there anyway. And she didn't want to go look for Iruka-sensei. It would mean she had to go to the academy and after today she didn't feel like it._

 _Naruko looked at a strand of bright coloured hair that fell in front of her eyes. Earlier today some of her classmates had made fun of her hair. It wasn't the pretty pale blond hair the Yamanaka clan had. But it was more like a bright yellow. One of the girls said that her hair was almost blinding her and that no shinobi could have hair like that._

 _"What if I just cut it?" Naruko had tried. She just wanted the teasing to stop._

 _"It wouldn't stop that_ _ugly colour from blinding me!" the same girl replied._

 _Naruko hiccupped. She wished she didn't look this weird. Her hair was weird, her eyes are weird, her clothes are weird and not to mention those weird whiskers on her cheeks. Kiba always said he liked her whiskers. But she was sure that he could fall in love with a dog if he wanted to._

 _"Why are you crying?" A sudden voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up into the face of her classmate Itachi Uchiha._

 _Naruko looked away from him. "Does it matter?" She said._

 _"Yes." Itachi said._

 _Naruko frowned. Who does this guy think he is? "Just leave me alone." Naruko whispered, almost too quiet to hear. It was silent for a moment and Naruko began to believe he had already left._

 _"I heard what they said about your hair."_

 _Naruko stiffened. Was that why he was here? To rub it in her face? She clenched her fists and refused to look in his direction._

 _"It's pretty." Itachi said. Naruko was surprised and looked at him to see if he was lying. Itachi was looking to the side with… a blush? Was he blushing? Was_ _the Itachi Uchiha blushing?!_

 _"I like that it's a bright yellow. It's warm like the sun or-" Itachi plucked a flower beneath him. "-like a buttercup." He finished. He held the flower towards the baffled girl. For a moment he was afraid she wouldn't take it and he looked like an idiot. But when she finally took the flower from his hand he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Naruko looked at the flower with a blush on her cheeks._

Naruko's memory came to an abrupt end when she heard Sasuke yell from downstairs. She hurriedly put the keepsake back in the drawer and welcomed Sasuke home. She shouldn't be thinking of Itachi anymore.

It just hurts her too much.

* * *

He wasn't sure if he should keep spying on Naruko and Sasuke with the crow. He was glad to know they were alright. That they were living their lives and still had each other. But it hurts him to know that he would never be part of their lives. At least not in a positive way.

To them he was the one who killed the people they cared about, who betrayed their village, who betrayed them and left them with only each other. There were a lot of things he wished to tell them. Things he never had a chance to tell and never will.

"Are you done staring at those flowers? We have to move." Kisame almost growled at him. Itachi gave one last look at the plant and moved on.

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Once again so sorry for this short chapter! I first had other plans for the third chapter but those will have to wait for another time… For those of you that want to have some more action in this story don't worry, I'm planning for some but please don't expect this entire story with that. This is a family/drama story! Not a fight in every chapter and lots of kunai being thrown around story.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know if you enjoyed it!**


	4. Chapter 4: Life continues

**Forgot to mention this in the first chapter but my first language is Dutch and NOT English. So please excuse some grammar or spelling mistakes I make in this story….. But enjoy this chapter and thanks for reading!**

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha, also known as the last Uchiha and most brooding nine year old in excistence, hated Wednesdays. It was also commonly known as the 'lecture day' at the academy, at least that's how Naruko called it. The young students would spent an entire day inside the classroom having to listen to the teacher rant about the so called basic knowledge and history of the shinobi world. Just sitting and listening and occasionally taking notes. Sasuke wasn't interested but every two weeks they'd get a test about everything they had learned so far. So he had no choice but to listen and resist the urge to fall asleep from boredom.

The only thing that amused Sasuke on these days was reading what naruko had written in her books. He'd look at the scrabbles and read the hastitetly written notes whenever the teacher would talk about something he already knew about. And it seemed like the teacher was covering the entire day on the chapter, _Basic knowledge for kunai's and other weapons._ Sasuke scoffed, 'Basic knowledge my ass.' He thought. 'This entire chapter is 15 pages! Who even has that much time to write everything they know about a simple thing such as a kunai. He started to turn the pages looking for a more interesting chapter. He stopped turning the pages when an interesting title caught his eye. 

**The Hokage's of Konoha.  
**

Sasuke looked at the title. Naruko's father was the fourth right? It was hard not to know when every villager treated her as a hero's child. However she rarely spoke of him, and now that Sasuke thought about it, he didn't know anything else but the fact that he was her father and died when she was just a baby. **  
**

He skipped all the other hokage's until he reached the section regarding Naruko's father.

 **The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.  
Namikaze was also known as Konoha's Yellow Flash for his incredible speed. He was Hokage for a short amount of time before his untimely death. The Yondaime Hokage died when he defeated the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox on October 10** **th** **. (See page 167.)**

Sasuke was shocked. He died on Naruko's birthday? He knew the Nine-Tails was defeated on Naruko's birthday but he didn't know any of the details around the event. He tried to look for more details regarding this event in the book, but the only information about the event was the date on the timeline at the end of the book. He contemplated asking Naruko about it but immidiatly decided against it. She respected his feelings by not talking about the massacre so he'll do the same and won't ask about the day her father had died. She'll tell him when she thinks it's time.

He looked at the section about Minato Namikaze and turned to page 167.

 **The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.  
It is unknown what the origin of this demon is. The earliest know appearance of this-  
**

Sasuke inwardly groaned. Everybody knew what the demon fox was and what it did. It was impossible to forget when you lived in the very village it last attacked. Don't get him wrong. He knew it was a very tragic event that cost many lives, but something like that wasn't rare in the world of shinobi. Sasuke would never admit it to anyone but it got to him how people always talked about the attack of the demon fox. But nobody seemed remotely saddened about the massacre of his entire clan, safe for the people close to him. Like Naruko, Kiba and some of the Inuzaka clan. And don't get him started about the looks the villagers give him.

When the lessons were finally over and Sasuke wanted to head home he saw Tsune Inuzaka standing by the entrance. He shuddered. Kiba's mother was one scary woman. And if she was here to pick him up it probably meant Naruko had to leave for a mission along with Kiba. Which leaves Sasuke to stay at the Inuzaka recidence until they return. He sighed and hoped the mission wouldn't take more than a day.

But the odds for that to happen are very, very small.

* * *

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Kiba even made sure Akamaru would be at home to keep an eye on Sasuke so it was just the three of them. It would be all they needed.  
But then _he_ appeared, along with a companion. While Kakashi was fighting the other guy, Kiba and Naruko began to chase Itachi. She was determined to not let him get away this time!

During the entire chase they weren't able to land a single hit on him. But running into him on a mission in the mountains gave them one afvantage. And that was that Itachi would run out of ground to run on. So here they are, a team reunited at an egde with the only way down towards a violent river.

What seemed like an enternity only lasted a second in reality. Itachi had turned and looked at his ex-teammates who refused to look him in the eye. They both knew what could happen if Itachi used a genjutsu. And is if they could read eachothers thoughts they both charged at Itachi with all they had.

Even though Itachi was more skilled it was still two against one. Both sides deliverd blow after blow but couldn't manage to land a single hit. During this fight Naruko could almost swear Itachi actually tried to not hit either of them. But he wasn't that kind of person to them. Not anymore.

Blow after blow, hit after hit. It would seem like it went on for forever. An explosion sounded nearby and the ground shook violently. Cracks appeared and the ground they stood on began crumbling. As the ground began to fall from under their feet into the river below Kiba just managed to jump away in time, only tot urn around and see his friend and enemy falling down bellow.

"NARUKO!"

* * *

"Thanks for the food." Sasuke said politely before starting on his dinner. He felt a wet dog nose nudge is shoulder and he tried to shove the animal away, only to have another dog take a bite at his food on his other side. But before the dogs could get anything of his plate Tsune's stern voice already chased then away. "Go eat your own food and leave the boy alone!"

Sasuke looked at his messed up plate with slight disgust. He was very gratefull to Tsune-sama for letting him stay over and making his food. But he was already 9 and could take care of himself! If Naruko was on a mission he could be alone without any problems. Maybe he can try and convince naruko of this fact when she's home ahain.

After dinner Sasuke excused himself to his- well, Kiba's room. Whenever he would stay over at the Inuzaka rescidence they led him sleep in Kiba's room. He wasn't sure if it was to make him feel at home in a regulary used room or if they didn't want to prepare a guest room again and again. He held the door open so Akamaru could follow him in. As the dog situated himself on the bed Sasuke walked towards the desk in the corner with his schoolbag. He had already finished his work during another lecture but wanted to see if he could find more information about Naruko's father. But after going through most of his textbooks he could only find the same things and every single time it would only direct him to the fox. With a deep sigh he went trough the information.

 **Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, also know as the Nine-Tails** _ **bla bla bla**_ **appears as a fox like beast with nine tails** _ **well I would have NEVER guessed something like that!**_ **Mindless monster** _ **yadayadaya**_ **The only known fact about the Nine-tails Jinchuriki is connected to the Uzumaki clan.**

….

Uzumaki?

But wasn't that… Sasuke looked up from the book, still deep in thought. Naruko had told him her full name before. _Naruko Uzumaki Namikaze._ She's Sasuke's primary caretaker and the daughter of the village's diseased fourth Hokage as well as 19 years old. She was born on the 10th of October, the same day Minato Namikaze had defeated the nine-tailed fox. A demon somehow connected to the Uzumaki clan. A clan her mother was part of and therefore Naruko as well.

Sasuke went ahead, looking for more information about the Uzumaki clan but couldn't find anything, so he decided to look for information about Jinchuriki's only to find none of that as well.

Akamaru's whine took Sasuke's thoughts away from his books, he looked outside the window and saw the moon high in the nightsky. It was late and he couldn't find any information anyway. He put his books back in his bag and walked towards the bed. Maybe he could ask one of his teachers tomorrow.

* * *

Her head hurts and she couldn't open her eyes from exhaustion. She felt her body being carried out of the water. Out of the water? Naruko wanted to move but all she could do was letting out a groan. As soon as she made that noise her carrier stiffened before slowly laying her back on the ground. All Naruko could feel now was the warm sand and the sun shining on her body. Her mind slowly drifted away as she heart her rescuer walking away.

everything went black once again.

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Thanks for reading and sorry for the long wait! I'm so glad we've already reached over 150 favs and 200 followers! Cue the fireworks!**

 **By the time I've finally uploaded this chapter I've already begun writing the next one and my goal is to upload these two before the 24**

 **th of July.**

 **Once again thanks for reading and please review!**

 **Hugs, kisses and lot's of smileys, Helentje.**


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